Saturday, May 14, 2011

Sec 1 Maths Performance Task Reflection

(I) Role of Statistics in Real Life
Statistics is a way to express data together, for easy comparing to come to conclusions. From the presentation, there is some way to predict the future. As there are ways to group the different components, it is actually another alternative method to summarise information.
There are many different forms of statistics like pie chart, dot diagram, stem and leaf diagram, bar graph, histogram, pictogram and line graph. There are similarities among all the types os statistics. For example, they need to have graphs titles, labels and sometimes there is a key or legend given. The differences among them is that the format of representation. The numbers maybe at the side of the vertical or/and below the horizontal axis or using pictures to represent a certain number or using dots to plot data or separating the the ones and tens digit from each other and arranging the ones digit in ascending order.
In histograms, on the vertical or "y" axis, the frequency word must be written there. Usually before doing a histogram, a frequency table is drawn out to tally the results and finally calculating the total of it. As for bar graphs, the bars are equally spaced and there is a vertical and horizontal axis just like line graphs.
Statistics can be used in many cases. In the work force, statistics are used to monitor the stock markets. Statistics is a common way of reviewing the annual performance and progress of the company and from that be able to judge whether there is an improvement. Singapore government uses statistics to group all the data given and plot them and sometimes this is the way they compare the income of Singaporeans. Companies chart all the information is graphs as it is a neat, easy, organised way to show information together. Singapore Power may share such information to inform them of their usage through percentage and encourage them to conserve more energy.
An example to calculate the marks is to draw a histogram to show the results of students performance for a particular subject, like Mathematics. Other than that, when there are major examinations going on like PSLE or "O" levels, statistics help to tell the mean, median and modal of the set of the students results.
Statistics helped me personally with data organisation as sometimes there are Science experiments to be done and with the data they need to be plotted using statistics. I feel that line graphs are the easiest as they can link the information together when the data are related. Personally, I love graphs as numbers are related to each other most of the time. Hence, graphs shows their comparisons on a common term which can be shown as frequency or on the vertical or horizontal axis.
In the newspapers, statistic is most commonly used to show the average, mean and median income of Singaporeans. Sometimes, they add on by showing the increasing trend of the income gap.
Secondly, they also use graphs to show the population of Singapore and can conclude that the population is growing and at the same time aging. It is only possible for the population to thrive as old people live longer as compared to the past. From the data plotted, it is also ablt to infer that in the future, 1 in 5 Singaporeans would be an elderly person.
Lastly, graphs in Singapore are widely used to show the rapidly increasing prices of housing in Singapore with an impact from inflation. Reporters would compare the average prices of housing in 2005 with 2010 to show the drastic difference. From the results, it is possible to conclude that prices of housing have increased too much at once, affecting the citizens.
There are many different ways and perspective to look at statistic. My take in this is that it a form of platform to interlink data together for easy comparisons. As the most common types of statistic is to use the mean of something versus the mean of something else, it is not that accurate. If the numbers used to find the mean are not "nice", the mean might just end up being a decimal or fraction which may reduce the accuracy of it. And if the two means are very close, every bit of difference counts in to see which wins. Although there are exceptions to statistics like what was mention above, statistic is quite accurate most of the time to compare data.

(II) Learning Experience
My group had little time to complete this project and every minute counts. Hence, we split up the job and every member did around the same amount by plotting the information and doing each part of the poster. I think my group is very organised and patient with each other. As this is an all-girls team, we knew how to priortise our things and do the more important and urgent things first. We did not push our responsibility to another member and diligently did what we were supposed to do. My role in this project is to be the Leader. As the leader, I felt that great power comes with great responsibilities which meant that I was given all the power to control but at the same time a greater range of consequences to face if the project outcome is not up to standard. For the part on challenges, as we had only around 3 days to do it, I had some difficulty splitting up the jobs and parts to each team member. After each member finishes their part, another challenge would be to put them together and present an outstanding poster. I think I would stay back and do together with my team mates as it needs to be submitted in one whole and it is quite hard to put things together. Hence by doing that way, it would definitely be more convenient for everyone in the group. Another thing which I would need is more time to get together and complete the whole project. This would be a great lesson to teach me how to manage my time well and how to improve for the better in the future when I encounter with projects again.